Montalvo’s ‘We the People’ explores landscapes, immigration

Share this:

Composer Howard Hersh will premiere his new sound work ‘Four Bridges’
during ‘We the People,’ a July 20 kickoff event for Montalvo Art Center’s
Art on the Grounds exhibition. Hersh’s piece is one of three that will be
exhibited on Montalvo’s grounds through the fall. (Photograph by Tina Case)

Exploring the “we” in “We the People” is the goal of this year’s Art on the Grounds exhibition at Saratoga’s Montalvo Arts Center.

To that end, curator Donna Conwell brought together three artists to create installations incorporating Montalvo’s landscape in thought-provoking ways. The installations will debut at a July 20 kickoff event that will also feature a range of guest performers and opportunities for attendees to explore their own creativity. After the kickoff, Art on the Grounds will remain on view into the fall.

All three artists are fellows in the Lucas Artists Residency Program at Montalvo. Composer Howard Hersh was inspired by his previous residency in 2014 to create “Four Bridges,” a soundscape visitors can listen to via a smartphone app while they hike Montalvo’s grounds.

Cuban-born artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons is creating a peace garden at Montalvo Arts Center with the help of community volunteers. The garden willofficially open to the public at “We the People,” a July 20 kickoff event for Montalvo’s Art on the Grounds Exhibition. Campos-Pons’ garden is one of three works in the exhibition, which will remain on Montalvo’s grounds through fall.

“The sound is inspired by the environment you pass through,” Hersh said. “Part of the woods is very tangled and dark. There are a lot of beautiful, intricate dead trees. They resonated with me; I imagined voices calling out—the politically or religiously oppressed.”

Hersh equated these voices with those of Chinese immigrants who came to California through Angel Island only to be detained. Some of their stories are recounted in “Four Bridges,” which also includes recorded testimony from a Holocaust survivor.

The artist said his goal was to integrate these stories, along with clips of music and poetry, into Montalvo’s landscape.

“I want (hikers) to walk into an alternate world,” Hersh added. “I hope some people are touched by an alternative insight about who we are as people.”

On her first visit to Montalvo—and to California—María Magdalena Campos-Pons is gaining new insight into the American landscape. The artist, who grew up on a sugar plantation in Cuba and immigrated to Boston, enlisted volunteers to help plant a peace garden on Montalvo’s grounds.

The garden’s layout is based in part on the floorplan of a “typical” Silicon Valley home and in part on an aerial photograph of Soviet medium-range ballistic missile installations taken during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. In the photo, the installations’ layout resembles a mandala, with missile silos appearing as blossoms within it.

“It doesn’t look military,” said the artist. “It looks very beautiful, so innocent and mystical, so removed from what it really implies.

“That kind of contradiction between perception and reality allowed me to think about what we don’t know,” she added. “Cuba’s a tiny little place, but it was the center of important events in the 20th century, and it seems it’s going that way for the 21st century.”

Campos-Pons said she views the planting as a performance and, as such, asked volunteers to wear cotton overalls she designed for the occasion and to use nontraditional digging tools like spoons.

Brazilian artist Marilia Dardot also relied on volunteers to make her installation, “Saudade (Our Flags),” a reality. At a workshop at Montalvo, first-generation U.S. immigrants painted flags that represent their native country. The workshop culminated with a flag-raising ceremony on the villa’s front lawn.

“They can paint the flag they remember; I’m not going to give them a model,” the artist said prior to the workshop. “They can also paint an original flag using elements of their country’s.”

The flags also include a word or a sentence about what they mean to their creators.

The installation has special meaning for Dardot.

“I’m now an immigrant for the first time,” said the artist. “I’ve lived in Lisbon for two years, so (the installation) says something about what I feel, too.”

While “We the People” is intended to celebrate inclusive ways of being together, Dardot said engaging the community in creating artworks is a means of exploring the theme.

“When you work in collaboration with people, there are always surprises,” added the artist.

Monday, March 11 900 block Linda Drive: An unknown suspect convinced the victim to provide gift card numbers over the phone. The victim believed he was buying a vehicle. 100 block Union: The victim believes a 29-year-old man is having a third party contact her for him. The suspect is currently in custody. 500 block E. McGlincey: The victim mailed...

Identity Theft, Theft by Credit Card: At 5 p.m. on Sept. 15, a wallet left at a business on Big Basin Way was stolen. The suspect used the victim’s driver’s license while being detained for shoplifting, and made numerous fraudulent charges using the victim’s credit card for an unknown total loss. The complaint was submitted to the DA’s office for...

Special Events AAUW Open House: The American Association of University Women holds an open house for prospective members. AAUW advances gender equity for woman and girls through research, education and advocacy. March 30. 10 a.m. 1165 Minnesota Ave. 408-294-2430. Orchid Show: Santa Clara Valley Orchid Society hosts its 68th annual Show &and Sale. Hundreds of orchids for sale and dozens...